This invention is related to a method for manufacturing and tuning a musical instrument having a sounding board which may support either sound ribs, or sound bars. The sound bars or ribs, as the case may be, are tuned by a tapping procedure that creates a sound at a particular location. The actual sound is compared to a desired sound, and then changed by either adding or removing material from the tapped location in order that the actual tapped sound is consistent with the desired sound.
Many musical instruments employ a sound board or sound bar which vibrates when excited, for example in the case of a piano, when a string is struck by a hammer. In the case of a drum, a sound member is excited by the contact of the drum stick with the drum skin.
The sound board of a piano may consist of a carefully prepared wooden panel about 3/8`s of an inch thick. The vibrations of the strings are transmitted to the sound board. The sound board determines the character of the sound of the piano.
Similarly, for a stringed instrument such as a guitar or violin, the strings are excited by the vibration of a steel or a gut string pulled tight, and either struck, plucked or rubbed by stretched horse hair or the like. The vibration frequency or pitch depends on the length of the string, its weight and tautness. The loudness of the sound depends on the string vibration.
However, the string alone, held at its ends and caused to vibrate, will make only a barely audible sound since it cuts through the air causing only a mild local disturbance. To get large quantities of air into motion, you add a sounding board or box. The string transmits its vibrations to the board or box through a bridge. Typically, the strings are held by rotatable pegs which are used to tighten and thereby to tune the strings.
In my forementioned patent, I disclosed how to improve a violin by tuning the front ribs and plates by a tapping procedure. In my forementioned patent application, I disclosed a further improvement in which a violin bow is tuned by a similar tapping procedure.